It’s a tiger’s tale that could have been avoided and now the finger-pointing game has begun.
It not only left in its wake a dead man, but a dead tiger too, and Chinese netizens are pinning the blame on the man, who had sneaked into the big cat’s enclosure on Sunday in Ningbo, in China’s Zhejiang province.
Many expressed their condolences to the man’s family but they felt he was largely to be blamed for his own death, reported China Daily.
The victim, surnamed Zhang, is said to have climbed the walls at Youngor Wildlife Park to avoid paying the 130 yuan (S$27) entrance fee, but unwittingly landed in the tiger’s den, according to the Ningbo Dongqian Lake Tourist Resort Administrative Committee. His wife and two children were said to have paid the entrance fees.
Sounds quite clear cut who was in the wrong, right? Not quite.
His family is blaming the zoo for negligence, claiming that it did not put in place enough safety and surveillance measures.
The South China Morning Post reported the zoo management as saying that Zhang had scaled two 3m walls and a wire fence, which displayed warning signs. He entered the tigers’ enclosure after scaling the second wall, sparking the series of unfortunate events.
Zhang’s relative surnamed Yang argued: “As long as the walls can be climbed easily, there will be people who will try to avoid paying the entrance fee.”
So the zoo should not give people any opportunity to climb over, he told Pear Video, insisting that the zoo should take some responsibility for Zhang’s death.
Read also: Tiger kills man at zoo while visitors watch in horror
Video footage showed Zhang trying to resist one of the tigers that had clamped its jaws around his head. It was shot dead after attempts to scare it off with firecrackers failed.
The man was rushed to hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
Zhang and his family have received little support from Chinese netizens who think that they are likely to demand a considerable compensation sum from the zoo, reported Shanghaiist.
“This entire family should be thrown to the tigers as compensation for the tiger family’s loss,” suggested one Weibo user.
Netizens compared the case to another that happened last year. In that incident, a woman got out of her vehicle inside Beijing’s Badaling Wildlife Park only to be mauled by one of its tigers.
She later said she would sue the park for 2 million yuan (S$414,000) in compensation.
chenj@sph.com.sg
